“Bad Mistakes That Make Good Employees Leave” is an article written by Dr. Travis Bradberry, Coauthor of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 & President at TalentSmart, that was recently published on LinkedIn. In today’s blog post, we’ve summarized his main points and explained how they pertain to Real Estate Brokers and their teams.

Dr. Travis Bradberry’s goal in this article is to help employers and managers improve turnover by understanding what makes good employees leave. While these concepts can be applied to most professional organizations, we’ve compared them to how they impact real estate businesses to provide insight on how to make sure your best real estate agents stay with you forever.

#1 “They make a lot of stupid rules”

While real estate businesses do need to have rules, Dr. Travis Bradberry explains that “they don’t have to be shortsighted and lazy attempts at creating order”. Rules do need to exist in the workplace in order to create structure, however, too many rules can make real estate agents “feel like big brother is watching”. This can make agents feel the need to look for a brokerage that shows they trust their team.

#2 “They treat everyone equally”

Dr. Travis Bradberry explains that “treating everyone equally shows your top performers that no matter how high they perform… they will be treated the same as the bozo who does nothing more than punch the clock”. For many real estate agents, becoming a top performer is a constant goal, but when it goes unrecognized by a Team Leader or a Managing Broker it can be extremely discouraging.

#3 “They tolerate poor performance”

Tolerating poor performance is just as bad as letting the accomplishments of star agents go unrecognized. Dr. Travis Bradberry states that, “when you permit weak links to exist without consequence, they drag everyone else down, especially your top performers”. Team agents should be aware of brokerage standards and see them enforced, so that they stay motivated and understand that poor performance is cause for discipline.

#4 “They don’t recognize accomplishments”

Even if a Managing Broker or Team Leader sees that an agent has made some great accomplishments in recent sales or exceeded expectations, it is always a good idea to display that they’ve been noticed. Dr. Travis Bradberry explains that “managers need to communicate with their people to find out what makes them feel good… and then… reward them for a job well done”.

#5 “They don’t care about people”

This is a big one. Dr. Travis Bradberry notes that, “more than half the people who leave their jobs do so because of their relationship with their boss”. How are your management skills as a Team Leader or Managing Broker? It’s important to truly care about your team as well as show them to avoid high turnover rates.

#6 “They don’t show people the big picture”

What are the goals set for the brokerage as whole? How can team agents contribute to that in addition to meeting their individual real estate goals? It’s important that your team understands the big picture, so that they can feel motivated to help achieve it. Dr. Travis Bradberry adds that when team members “aren’t given a purpose, they find one elsewhere”. Be upfront with your real estate team to keep everyone on board and engaged.

#7 “They don’t let people pursue their passions”

In order to keep a team happy, agents should be encouraged to pursue individual goals in addition to brokerage goals. This will help improve team morale as well as productivity. Dr. Travis Bradberry mentions that “studies have shown that people who are able to pursue their passions at work experience flow, a euphoric state of mind that is five times more productive than the norm”. Five times!

#8 “They don’t make things fun”

Last, but not least, if you can make the office fun, your real estate team will more likely go the extra mile to meet goals and contribute to the team as a whole. Dr. Travis Bradberry believes that “the idea is simple: if work is fun, you’ll not only perform better, but you’ll stick around for longer hours and an even longer career”. We agree!

Summary: Team Leaders and Managing Brokers need to be aware of what makes their team motivated and what doesn't in order to avoid making mistakes that make good agents leave. Don’t ignore or blame others for mistakes that can be easily avoided, so that you can grow your real estate business and exceed your goals.

How do you keep your real estate brokerage happy? Share in the comments below.